Welcome to Hell, A Land of Bitter Desire
by DinosaurLover
Summary: The Careers were unstoppable this year. But in hell, it doesn't matter who you are or claim to be, no one stands a chance.
1. Meet Your Tributes

_I want a sore neck from staring at you from across the room_

_I want to feel a raging pulse from you staring back_

_I want to see what's beyond by looking into your eyes_

_I want to never look away_

_I want you to hold me even in my darkest hours_

_I want senseless fights over who gets to kill the prey_

_I want to feel your fingers curl around my neck_

_I want to feel your breath on my back_

_I want to feel the blood drip down and stain my lips a metallic red_

_I want you to want me_

_I want you to need me_

_I want you to breathe me_

_I want to be in you_

_I want our bodies to be one_

_I want you to love me_

_But most of all, I want you to forgive me for what I'm about to do_

_Sorry_

_:)_

_Ps, I love you_

-XxoxX-

The entire nation of Panem's eyes were glued to their screens. The first reapings were about to start; District One like always. Before a name was even called out, several hands shot up, a sea of 'I volunteer' meeting the ears of the audience. Interestingly enough, the girl who was chosen was not picked because of her strong voice, heck, she didn't even say anything. She was chosen because of her stance and gaze. Her mysterious dark brown eyes cast a curse on whoever made contact, daring them to step foot within a metre of her. She was ready, ready for a fight.

Similar to the girls, a plethora of boys volunteered. The one chosen was a cocky fellow with radiating green eyes and a stupid grin plastered on his face. He seemed quite certain that he would be returning home and would make sure that he would go down in the history books.

Meet your tributes from District One, Dame Dahlia and Bryant Bachelor.

-XxoxX-

The crew from District Two were ruthless. Shouts coming from everywhere as an outraged group of children rebelled. They picked a 16 year old girl over a bunch of eligible eighteen year olds. But no one understood, this raven haired beauty wasn't named after the god of war for nothing.

A tall and bulky boy joined her on stage, playing the crowd with his sexy nutty brown eyes. Blow a kiss here, blow a kiss there. What a linear performance. He'd be a favourite for sure.

Meet your tributes from District Two, Athena Olive and Alistair Kane.

-XxoxX-

District Three, what a weird bunch. For a place all about technology, no one had a spark in their eye. Except one tribute. Scared but inspired, her fierce red hair flying in the wind. She was sickly skinny, yet had potential. Perhaps an underdog?

What joined her was a boy with lacklustre looks and the slightest hint of muscle. A recipe for a lost soul. He kept his head down and looked as if he accepted his inevitable death.

Meet your tributes from District Three, Katia Springwood and Nate Spector.

-XxoxX-

A collective curiosity grew in Panem; two volunteers from District Four. And they did not look sinister, they looked happy. the girl was full of like a cheery, optimistic to the point one might call her naïve. Her spearmint eyes and awfully short stature gave her many strange advantages.

The boy was dull against her in happiness, but had this certain passion in his eyes that meant he was ready to do anything for his people. Unique azure eyes, yet typical blond hair and sharp features of a fisherman, meant he would be up there with the top contenders with his looks alone.

Meet your tributes from District Four, Coventina Wynnum and Dorien Manly.

-XxoxX-

Oh she was as good as dead as soon as her name was called out. No one even volunteered. Sick bastards, but aren't we all?

District Five weren't known for their outstanding number of victors, and probably wouldn't get one this year to add to their limited number of people. Look at the boy, not much of a winner was he?

Meet your tributes from District Five, Rosalind Dixen and Graham Bell.

-XxoxX-

Two of the most invisible tributes to date, neither of them had anything interesting about them. Well, besides the girl who had one stand-out oddity; her lack of a left eye.

The boy however was painfully normal and seemed to lack any special qualities.

Meet your tributes from District Six, June Lowe and Beck Greening.

-XxoxX-

District Seven was filled with silence as she made her way up to the stage. A beloved daughter of a local hero which could never hurt a fly, or so one would think. She inherited her mother's delicate, childish features, and her father's cunning and quick thinking mind. Raised to be one with an axe, maybe she stood a chance in the games.

The boy beside her looked deeply in pain as his name was called out. He was scared of something. Was it death? Or was his weakness on stage already, waiting for him to come and join her?

Meet your tributes from District Seven, Gaia Holland and Flint Aspen.

-XxoxX-

High pitched screams erupted from a fourteen year old girl in District Eight. She was hysterical. Certainly one of the first tributes that would die. She probably should've shown off her endearing smile instead of making everyone in Panem pity or hate her.

Some hope was restored to the district when a solid boy marched onto the stage with respect. He had a certain aura of leadership about his, an instant threat to the competition. Calm and strong, was this the winner of the games?

Meet your tributes from District Eight, Carmen Coco and Marc Kalvin.

-XxoxX-

A bedraggled girl with hidden charm smiled into the camera. She didn't approve of the games but there was hope in her that she would be seeing her home again. It wasn't impossible either, as she had that certain vibe about her that people would eat up.

Her partner was a bit of a letdown, but did not carry on like a fool. He took on a level of maturity one of his age usually didn't possess and only let one stray tear fall from his beady eyes.

Meet your tributes from District Nine, Keely Vaughn and Chandler Holmes.

-XxoxX-

District Ten was home to perhaps the most sad duo so far.

Bost tributes built like twigs and bloodshot eyes with drooping faces to match. But atleast the poor existence of a girl walked up without any problems. She wasn't terrified, simply because the games would be no different to her struggle to survive in her everyday life. Maybe getting reaped was a blessing in disguise to end her miserable life.

The boy was similar. Isn't it sad to see two young lives already lost? It didn't matter how they would be slaughtered, they were already dead.

Meet your tributes from District Ten, Beretta Steele and Corby Helyer.

-XxoxX-

The girl from District Eleven was hauntingly similar to that of District Five. Both were no hopers who would be forgotten.

And the boy, he looked bloodthirsty. If one was not told they would have mistaken him for last year's victor, a vicious warrior from District Two. There was something wrong with him though. As he never left his partner's side, holding her hand ever so tightly that it should have cut off circulation. Why did this little girl mean so much to him? What measures would he go to make sure she stayed alive?

Meet your tributes from District Eleven, Audrina Pearl and William Lacey.

-XxoxX-

She resembled that of a rotting corpse, most likely because of her lack of experiences involving a bath and happiness. Refusing to smile or look anyone in the eyes, she seemed to be in a different world.

Frozen in spot, guards had to bring the boy tribute onto the stage. He was still frozen one up there, never blinking once. The way he was going, he would die of shock before the games even begun.

Meet your tributes from District Twelve, Kibi Shale and Ryatt Scalus.


	2. The Parade

The streets were overflowing with eager citizens, all counting down the seconds until the tribute parade. This was the first up close look of the tributes for the games. First impressions were vital in your odds of living in this superficial world.

Music started to play but it was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.

District One tributes came out and immediately sent the crowd into appreciative cheers. Dame had a straight face and didn't show much emotion, except for the mysterious smirks thrown at the most excited of the crowd. The audience was intrigued by this tribute. Her dark eyes and mousy brown hair were complimented with a gothic makeup scheme, which contrasted greatly to the bright and extravagant costume she wore. Feathers, sequins, glitter; nothing unexpected from a glamorous district.

Bryant was blowing kisses into the crowd, their positive responses adding to his ego. He was taller than most men in Panem and had a body to be envied; slim yet toned. Taking advantage of his spectacular eyes, they used many emerald gems on his face, giving the illusion of a green devil.

District Two followed and the reception for them was just as hot.

Both tributes were dressed in impressive plate mail, holding helmets in their arms confidently. Athena and Alistair had makeup which accentuated their already defined facial features. Roses were thrown at them as they turned up the charm, sending the crowd wild.

The District Four tributes were playful and lovable, which earned them a place in each youthful spirit in the Capitol.

Gaia and Flint were the ones representing District Seven. They were adorned in leaves and white cloth, symbolising paper. Not much was left to the imagination as there wasn't much clothing covering them up and minimal makeup was used. They looked natural, and slutty, but that wasn't necessary a bad thing in this place. It was a breath of fresh air.

Many of the districts were average or forgettable.


	3. Everyone Has A Personality

Caesar Flickerman sat grinning at Dame as she walked on stage. This year his hair was a deep aqua colour with eccentric violet streaks. His suit was a weird maroon colour which was adorned with intricate patterns made of shimmering crystals.

He fanned his face as if the temperature was boiling, "Wow, the weather man didn't predict it to be this hot today."

Dame flashed her sparkly white pearls to the crowd and gave them a two fingered salute. They erupted into cries of joy and she seemed a little confused as to why they liked her so much. Caesar took delicately too her hand and led her down to a comfy plush. She sat there in silence and looked her interviewer in the eyes with a look so stern, he had to look away.

"Hello," she let out simply with a lick of her lips, "How are you doing on this lovely day?"

The crowd burst out into laughter and Caesar looked at the crowd in awe, "We've got a character in this one, don't we? So tell me Dame, what was the first thing that came to your mind once you entered the Capitol?"

She rested her hands in her lap and had a concentrated look on her face as if trying to decide what to say. Ever so slowly, her head went up and she fluttered her lashes. "Pretty," she stated firmly. Caesar sat there as if waiting for her to continue, but she arched her eyebrows playfully as if she was ready for his next words. "Interviews are supposed to have more than one question, sir."

He shook his head and smiled, "My dear, maybe one day you can take my place up here. Continuing, do you think you could win these games?"

"No doubt," Dame curled her lips up and wore a smirk almost as if she was bored.

The interview went on and she played the mystery card by only replying with one word answers. Citizens were drawn in with every word and they couldn't decide if it was her intense gaze or vanilla voice that made them fall in love.

Her district partner, Bryant, was next to walk up on stage. He could probably gain half the sponsors with his body alone. Even when he reached Caesar, he still waved and winked at the crowd. Running a hand through his hair, he asked Caesar confidently, "When I win the games, do you think that I could buy that suit off of you? Crystals really go well with my eyes."

Caesar laughed loudly, again surprised by the attitude of a District One tribute.

Bryant was extremely cocky, but did not seem to be blinded by his thoughts. He knew exactly what he was doing and how to play the crowd. The games had already begun in his mind.

Athena from District Two was welcomed with applause. Her designer played on the fact that she had the most stunning legs ever shown on national tv by giving her dress a sexy slit up the side. Her steel blue eyes and ruthless attitude made her liked, but nothing more than an average Career. Same goes with Alistair he just seemed to be another charismatic and bulked up victor. But a victor is a victor and he had a good chance of winning.

Katia got nothing but praise for her newly luscious and flowing red hair. She was a little sweetheart but fourteen year olds hardly ever won the games so there wasn't much of a chance of her winning. Maybe a few sponsors would be interested though.

The District Four tributes kept going with their optimistic and passionate personas. Coventina in a dress that highlighted her impossibly small waist, and Dorien with a brand new haircut that really brought out his angled jawline. Even though Coventina was the smallest tribute in the games that wasn't twelve, she was still one of the oldest and one of the biggest threats.

When it was Gaia's turn to have her few minutes of fame, the whole room had fallen into silence. She went for the natural look again, but this time covered up and like a Roman goddess. Normally self-assured, she became overwhelmingly shy at her quite reception, as if she did something wrong.

One clap. Two claps. Three claps. Gradually everyone in the whole room was clapping as loudly as they could. The interview went along smoothly and before she could get off stage, Caesar asked one more question.

"How do you feel about your fellow tribute, Flint Aspen?"

Her face fell and let out grimly, "I don't."

It was Flint's turn to have his interview and the crowd was trying to be cheerful for him. He seemed to be irritated and answered Caesar's questions rather bluntly. When his time was almost up he sighed and gave the camera a sad smile, "My apologies, I've been rather ineloquent today."

Caesar gave him a reassuring pat on the back and asked him what was on his mind.

"Well you see, Caesar, there is this girl called Gaia. Gaia is special to me. I never talked to her before I was reaped, because she was and still is too important to waste time on a commoner like me. But, I owe my life to her. If she didn't… didn't save my little sister all those years ago, I wouldn't of had anything to live for."

A few tears left Flint's eyes while he was deciding whether or not to continue, "But she's gone now. So the only thing that kept me alive was the hope that one day, maybe, just maybe, I could give Gaia something in return. Maybe even save her life too."

Tears started to well up in the eyes of the audience, even some of the other tributes. Flint left the stage in quiet sobs before his time was up.

Marc Kalvin had to pick up the image of District Eight after the pitiful interview of his partner. He answered every question with humour and did it so effortlessly, if sponsors didn't want to kidnap him it would have been a shock.

Every other interview was dull or uneventful, except for two. That of Keely Vaughn and William Lacey. Although, they probably only attracted attention because of their well-built figures and cheeky smiles.

-XxoxX-

TRAINING SCORES:

DAME DAHLIA-10

BRYANT BACHELOR-9

ATHENA OLIVE-9

ALISTAIR KANE-10

KATIA SPRINGWOOD-6

NATE SPECTOR-7

COVENTINA WYNNUM-8

DORIEN MANLY-10

ROSALIND DIXEN-6

GRAHAM BELL-7

JUNE LOWE-5

BECK GREENING-5

GAIA HOLLAND-8

FLINT ASPEN-8

CARMEN COCO-6

CHANDLER HOLMES-6

BERETTA STEELE-6

CORBY HELYER-5

AUDRINA PEARL-6

WILLIAM LACEY-8

KIBI SHALE-4

RYATT SCALUS-5


	4. Let's Get The Games Started

Gaia Holland- District Seven

My eyes widen at the sight. Smack bang in the middle of the cornucopia where the weapons were supposed to be, was an ice pillar approximately twenty metres in diameter. The lack of supplies wasn't what chilled me to the bone; it was the giant frozen mutt in the centre of it. As the clock counted down, tributes were seen worriedly looking for an escape, or mesmerised at the giant in front of us.

10

Why is it so dark?

9

Where is the weapons?

8

Where is Flint?

7

Okay, take deep breaths…

6

Breathe in

5

Breathe out

4

Do it for your district.

3

Stay alive

2

Just stay alive

1

Oh fuck

-XxoxX-

Dame Dahlia- District One

What kind of game were they playing?

Not even bothering to kill any tributes, I walked curiously towards the frozen centre. After the initial thrill of the games was over, the public would want a bloodbath.

I felt the heavy hand of Dorien touch my shoulder and scowled. How could he be such an enthusiastic person when exposed to such a vicious world? Athena kept her feet planted firmly on the ground, circling her gaze around our area. Her face was seriously and her forehead was creased intently. Whenever someone tried to speak up, she stuck her finger out to silence them. It was like this for five minutes before she spoke up, "We are in a cave with a pillar of ice. However, it's boiling hot. Most likely artificially. There is no weapons or food, which means we have a limited supply and have to find them ourselves. They are trying to make it hard for everyone, including the top contenders."

Cutting her off, Bryant ruffled my hair and stated loudly, "When the ice melts, we're fucked. The temperate will be unbearable and this monster will be on the loose."

"One, don't cut me off ever again. I will kill you. Two, let's scout the immediate area. I need to know what we're dealing with."

Under my breath I cursed, "Who the fuck appointed you as team leader?"

No one heard me besides Coventina; all she did was giggle and gave me an approving thumbs up.

-XxoxX-

Athena Olive- District Two

The cave was like a labyrinth; a complicated irregular network of passages or paths in which it is difficult to find one's way. I lead the way through the tunnels and mentally mapped out every nook and crevice this place had to offer.

Our group had been walking silently for probably an hour, besides the occasionally banter or witty remark, before we came to a stop.

"Can you hear that?" Coventina's soft voice called out.

I rolled my eyes and grunted, "More like, can you feel that? It's fucking hot!"

The temperature was getting higher the more we walked and I was already starting to get dehydrated. My head felt dizzy and I leaned against the closest wall, which was rocky and uncomfortable.

"Lava…" An almost inaudible whisper met my ears. This time, louder and more firm, the voice repeated, "Lava. The sound, the heat. Lava. We are either in a volcano or hell."

My eyes popped open and I ran nonstop for a couple of minutes until I came to a cliff. Dame was right, lava. It was a huge pool that seemed to go on forever. Why would they have lava in the games? To simply push a tribute in would not be an entertaining death.

Something else caught my eye though, across countless waves of bubbling lava, was the District Seven tributes. They were on the other side of this death trap. I stuck my middle finger up and waved it to make sure they'd see.

When I turned around I was met by the rest of my pack. "We need water, and we need it fast, if we want to even have a chance of surviving this cooking pot."

-XxoxX-

Bryant Bachelor- District One

"So how does it feel?"

I grinned as I saw her face scrunch up in confusion, "What?"

The inner me frowned; she definitely would have been my type if we weren't in an arena of death. She had a silent yet deadly look about her which was extremely alluring. "How does it feel to be favourite to win?"

Dame gave me the slightest of grins and shrugged her shoulders, "It doesn't feel like anything."

My head cocked to the side curiously, "Not really good with conversing, are you?" She just shrugged her shoulders again. "Tell me a story."

"Tell yourself one."

"There once was a Zebra who was madly in love with a turtle," I began and watched everyone in the pack tune in. "But the turtle was untouchable. He would glide in the water and dip his head underneath, then retreat into his shell; his home."

"It's been what, nine years? You should've learned another story after all that time or something," Dame scolded with the hint of amusement in her voice.

"It was your favourite though," I jabbed her lightly in the ribs.

This caused her to roll her eyes, "It was the only one you told me, idiot."

The most light-hearted chuckle left my lips and after a moment of realisation, Athena and Dorien spoke at the same time, both saying different things.

"You two knew each other before the games?"

"What happened to the Zebra?"

Dame stuck her hand up to stop anyone else from speaking and took a long, drawn out breath, "The Zebra only saw him when she came out for a drink of water. Two separate lives; one of careless ignorance, basking in bliss, and one desperately clawing its way out of a never ending labyrinth, trying to be happy. Oh how the Ze-"

She was cut off by a pissed looking, dark haired lunatic. " s?" Athena got even more pissed off with every syllable.

"She was my first girlfriend when I was eight. Believe it or not we dated for a whole entire year." My eyes met with Dame's only for a split second and I swore I saw a hint of a blush on her already rosy cheeks. "By the end of it I thought I was some kind of Casanova, and I dropped her. Never crossed paths ever again. Well, look at us now. I'm not superstitious but maybe it was fate."

Dorien cracked up laughing, and after the most malicious death stare and slanderous words from Athena, a large portion of our scavenger hunt was just filled with muffled chuckles.

Losing patience, Alistair punched the cave wall. "Where the fuck is the food! The weapons?"

"Calm down!"

These sudden outbursts caused a squeal to be heard from not too far away. Alistair's face twisted into one of pure evil and he stuck his ear up in a predatory way. He slowly stalked the owner of the voice and found a trembling District Twelve boy backed up against a dead end.

His body shook with sobs as Alistair seemed to take ages walking up to his first catch. The little boy was nothing compared to the machine that stood in front of him. Thinking of ways to kill the boy without a weapon, Alistair lifted his massive foot up and crushed the boy's chest. He was not dead yet though, so mercilessly his skull was smashed up against a sharp edge of the rock face.

A boom of a cannon could be heard.

A silver parachute came floating down, even though there wasn't really a place for it to come from. Inside was a series of materials and a small amount of food and water

"Traps to catch food with?"

"No… To catch people with."


End file.
